This week in 1971, the “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” commercial aired and changed the world. Although it was just an ad to sell Coke, the band that sang the song, The New Seekers, quickly re-recorded it with no product placement.

The new song “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)” came out in 1972 and was also a big hit. It has resonated through the decades. It became the transcendent final moments of the TV show Mad Men. It’s a cultural moment.

I somehow got the song stuck in my head, and it turned into this cartoon. Like any good jingle or slogan, it can apply to just about anywhere. I thought that when we code, we’re all speaking the same language for a moment, at least. We’re all together. In my opinion, that "is the real thing.” 

I was particularly taken by the shots in the video where the hillside vineyard fills the background. I tried to recreate this effect. But not quite what I was envisioning. I don’t dabble with coloring all that often. Maybe if I animated it like the original video. Maybe it should be smaller. One of those might fix it.  

I queued up the video to the section I liked most. I just love it. I wish I could visit there someday.

I originally had faces on the boards, like they were singing. But my son didn’t like it. He said the boards with the talk bubble are enough. So, I went with that. 😊

I drew all of those boards, like still-life drawings. I was recently thinking maybe I should draw them all. I could make a Warhol-like “Campbell Soup” painting of them all together. Hmmm….

I was reading about the history of the song and its origin, and I happened across the original producer, Bill Backer, singing/playing a rendition. I thought it was a pretty sweet take on it; the original take, I suppose. So, I had to share it below.